Power Up a Tower: Part 2

In Power up a Tower: Part 1, I showed the relationship between work (J) and power (watts). I also introduced the power to mass ratio metric (watts/kg) which can be used to measure the performance of different climbers climbing the same building. Finally, I showed an example of how the power to mass ratio of climbers depends on the height of a climb. In this post, I will attempt to predict how an athlete's average power to mass ratio changes with respect to the height of a climb.

Before I discuss climbing, I’m discuss to show a related topic; running. Admittedly, I’m neither a serious runner nor a scientist, but I conjecture that running speed is proportional to power output. At the very least, here is a paper that supports this assumption. Although this paper ignores important terms like drag and acceleration, at low speeds these terms are relatively small.

Since a runner’s sustained power output will drop as race length increases, it would be interesting to see how much it drops depending on the total distance run. I’m particularly interested in races lasting between two and twenty minutes in duration, nearly all stair climbing races fall into this range. I couldn’t find data for individual runners across this range, so instead I plotted data for world class athletes. In most cases, I took the average pace for the top 10 races done at a given distance. See table below:

Average Running Pace per Race Distance

Here is a plot that shows the pace as percentage of the 100m dash pace, a pace very close to a runner’s top speed.



Figure 1

Here are a few notes and observations about this data:

• The shape of the curve looks like a decreasing exponential.
• This data represents a theoretical maximum for humans. Even for world-class athletes, it would be nearly impossible to replicate these speeds across the whole range of distances. For example, Ryan Hall would handily beat Usain Bolt in a marathon, but Usain would dominate in a sprint. With training, these athletes might be able to excel in other races, but they probably would still have different (yet similarly shaped) speed vs. distance curves.
• Max speed (and hence power output) looks like it can only be achieved for about 20 seconds. You will note that the men’s 200m has a greater top speed then the 100m since the initial acceleration is less of a factor in the longer race. However, for the women’s race (which lasts over 20 seconds) the average pace for the 200m race is slightly slower than the average pace for the 100m race. For longer races, there is a significant drop off in average speed.
• There is an odd drop off for the women’s 300m race. This is probably because very few races are done at this distance; hence the world record pace is somewhat “slower” than what would be expected.
• For races shorter than a mile (about 4 minutes in duration) average speed (and hence power output) drops significantly as race length is increased. However, for longer races, average speed drops very little as race distance is increased (about 60% - 70% max speed). In fact, if you extended the curve out to include the marathon distance, you would see that the marathons are done at about 55% max speed.
• There is a distinct gap between the curves for males and females. Part of the gap can be explained because top women are a bit slower than men. For reference, the world record for 800 meters is 1:41 and 1:53 for males and females respectively. Since it takes females about 12 seconds longer to cover the same distance, it would be expected that a female’s % maximum power during the race would be slightly lower at this distance.

To make this information useful to stair climbers and eliminate some of the discrepancies highlighted in the last bullet above, I’ve transformed the X axis to show “Time” instead of running “Distance”. I’ve also relabeled the Y axis to show “% of Max Power” rather than “% of Max Speed”.

Figure 2

A couple observations:

·        The data is virtually identical for males and females up to about 2 minutes (about 800 meter mark) but then diverges by about 2% of Max Power.

·        I made the assumption that Power & Running Speed are directly proportional.

This is a very useful tool for stair climbers since it can be used to predict race times for any building assuming the climber knows the vertical height of the race course and has results from at least one other climb.

Here is an illustrative example: A climber wants to race up a building which is 300 meters tall. Prior to this race, the climber raced up a 100 meter tall building in 4 minutes. What is the predicted time up the 300 meter building?

Step 1: Find where the climber’s previous race lies on Figure 2. Example: For a four 4:00 minute race, the climber was working at about 69% of maximum power (taking the average between male & female curves).

Step 2: Estimate how long it will take to do a long race. Example: For a 300 meter race, it is going to take a bit longer than 3X as long as the 100 meter race. Therefore, let’s guess it will take about 15 minutes.

Step 3: Find where the climber’s estimate lies on Figure 2. Example: For a 15 minute race, the climber would be working at about 62.5% of maximum power (taking the average between male & female curves).

Step 4: Calculate the climber’s pace & predicted finish time using % maximum power found in step 3. Example: The climber should be about 10% slower when climbing the 300 meter race compared with the 100 meter race (i.e. 69%/62.5% = 1.104). At that pace, the climber would be able to climb 100 meters in 4.42 minutes (i.e. 1.104 x 4 minutes). This translates into 13.248 minutes (i.e. 3 x 4.416 minutes) in the 300 meter race.

Step 5: Repeat steps 2 through 4 using the predicted finish time from step 4 as your new guess. Stop once your guess matches your results from step 4. Example: Guessing that the finish time is 13.248 minutes (@ step 2) then the climber would be working at 63% of maximum power (@ step 3). This value predicts that the climber should be able to do 300 meter in 13.14 minutes (= 69%/63% x 3 minutes x 300m/100m) which matches closely with the initial estimate of 13.248 minutes.

A few final notes:

·    As mentioned before, the curve is derived from a “theoretical best”. Some climbers will do better in longer races and others will do better in shorter races. In my case, I tend to do better in shorter climbs, so using results from a shorter race to predict how I’ll fare at the Sears tower won’t be very accurate (i.e. my race time will be slower than what is predicted).

·    This method only takes into account vertical height of the race. It won’t be very accurate for races like the ESBRU which includes a fair bit of running.

·    This method assumes that races will be done at a constant pace (i.e. constant power) throughout the entire race. From experience, I know if I go out too fast in the beginning, I’ll pay for it dearly in the 2^nd half of the race.

·    Other variables like number of turns, hand rail placement, etc. are also not factored into this method. When using this this curve to predict how you’ll do in a race, hopefully your trial time was done in a similarly configured building. From experience, I know that turning around corners eats up time!

Bennington Part 2: Race Day

I had a wonderful time in Bennington this past weekend and our WCL came in first place! Take a look the results here. I’m very happy with the overall results since we just barely managed to form a team for this event.

Race day started off smoothly. Since the race started at 10:00 and Bennington is only 41 miles from my house, I was able to wake up at a reasonable hour and still get to the race early. At race check in, I met up with my friend Bob and his son Ben*. A few minutes later, my friend Steve Marsalese arrived and our team was complete... until I learned we needed a minimum of 5 climbers to form a team! Fortunately, I saw Fred Eames at race check-in and I managed to sign him up on our team at the last minute. Fred is probably one of the best 60+ stair climbers in the US and he held the Corning Tower record (4:50) for 8 years prior to the era of David Tromp, Jean Francois Harvey, and Jesse Berg. What is even more impressive is that Fred set the record when he was in his

*Bob traveled all the way from Indiana to do this race with his son Ben, who is a graduate student at RPI (a nearby college).

The weather was perfect in Bennington; Bright and Sunny and not very hot. About 30 minutes before the race, our team ventured into the Bennington monument for a look at the course. Here were my observations:

·        Much cooler on the inside of the building

·        Very dark! Several sections were unlit

·        The steps wrapped around the inside walls with 90 degree turns

·        There were only a couple landings, so running was kept to a minimum

·        The rise/run ration was very small; in other words the steps very short (only about 5.5 inches tall) and were very broad. Maybe they were a couple feet long? I did not bring a ruler L

·        The outer rail was situated at a convenient height, but the inner rail was much too high to grip effectively. This was probably done for safety reason since the tower was originally open (they added an elevator shaft later). I could only grip the vertical posts going around the turns.

·        The stairwell and handrails were a bit rusty (but not dangerously so).

·        The final 20 stairs or so is a narrow circular staircase which is difficult to navigate.

After we made it to the top, we spent some time trying to figure out the best way to climb the circular staircase. The two methods that seemed to work well were:

1)      Take the outside part of the steps one at time with “quick feet”.

2)      Take the inside part of the steps two at time by leaning toward the center and keeping one hand on the rail and another on the stairs themselves.

I planned to race with the 2^nd option because it seemed much faster.

We then descended via elevator to await the start of the race. About 10 minutes before the start of the race, I began my usual warm-up and then lined up with Steve & Paul Curley (another well-known climber and former pro cyclist) to start the race.

At 10:01 sharp, I bolted up the stairwell. Since was such a short race, I went out hard and fast. I couldn’t use the inner rail effectively, so I simply ran up the stairs taking two steps at a time. Fortunately, I was able to grip the vertical railing supports to aid in turning. I glanced at my watch around the 40 second mark and was still keeping pace. However in the span of about 15 seconds, I went from feeling tired but strong to feeling like crap. Right around the 55 second mark, I hit “The Wall”. My breathing was okay but my quads simply stopped working. I knew I was close to the top, so I plodded along as fast as my legs would manage. Soon enough, the circular staircase was in view and the end was literally in site. I entered the final stairwell… and promptly fell down. My muscles were so full of lactic acid that I lacked basic coordination in my legs. I pulled myself back up and fell down again a couple steps later. My feet kept on getting tangled up in the stairs. I got up again and fell down for a third time about half way up. At that point I was in a panic; I was so close to the finish and I just couldn’t climb up the damn staircase! I crawled on my hands and knees for the rest of the way up and just finished the race. When I heard my time (1:22) I said a couple choice curse words. I was pretty disappointed since not only did I fail to meet my goal time of 1:18, but I also failed to reach the 1:20 mark. It took a few minutes to catch my breath and in the meantime I greeted the other climbers (Steve, Paul, Fred, etc.) as they finished the race. Although my breathing was soon back to normal, my quads were on fire and I shook out my legs to relieve the pain. Eventually, we all descended the tower via the elevator.

Down at the bottom, I had a quick snack (free Cliff bars!) and socialized with the other racers. I had another 90 minutes or so to wait until my second run-up and I spent a bit of time thinking about what went wrong during the race and how could I improve during my 2^nd attempt.

First, I lost a bit of time at the end on the final circular stair case. I don’t really know how much time I lost by tripping up a few times, but I guess I lost about 2-3 seconds. To prevent falling during my 2^nd attempt, I planned to stay to the outside taking one step at a time using “quick feet”. Although this method of climbing might little bit slower, I figured this method required less coordination and would ultimately save a couple seconds.

Next, I hit “The Wall” right around the 55 second mark and I lost during the latter third of the race. Rereading my initial post, this was exactly what I was worried about in the days leading up to the race. “The Wall” also happened pretty much where I thought it might happen. I must be prescient! To compensate, I knew I had to use the rails no matter how uncomfortable they were. Although I might lose a bit of efficiency by using the rails, if I could delay the onset of fatigue for another 10 seconds, I’d be able to cut a few extra seconds off of my time.

Last but not least, my legs were pretty much spent after climbing so hard during the first run-up. I knew I needed time for my legs to recover, so I chose to do my 2^nd run-up closer to noon (near the end) rather than go up with Steve and Paul around 11:20ish in order to maximize my recovery. I felt that every extra minute of rest was precious since I was worried that I’d hit the wall even earlier during my 2^nd run up simply because my legs were already toast. I know it might seem far-fetched that my legs were in such bad shape after just 82 seconds of exercise and if it didn’t happen to me, I would’ve been skeptical. The only plausible explanation that I can think of is that I pumped my legs so full of lactic acid in such a short amount of time that I needed a good long rest to recover.

Finally, it was time for my 2^nd run-up. My legs didn’t feel fresh, but I certainly think the extra 30 minutes of rest helped. I entered the stairwell at a slightly slower pace than during my 1^st run up in order to make sure I wouldn’t hit the wall prematurely. I consciously focused on using the inner rail and although it was pretty awkward. I’m glad I did; I tripped a couple time on the steps but holding on to the rails prevented me from falling down. Honestly, it didn’t feel like using the rails helped me climb (i.e. it felt like I was transferring very little power to the rails) but with only a few flights to go, I did not have to resort to a power walk. I got to the final circular staircase and took the outside lane. Taking one step at a time certainly felt slow, but I managed to ascend the final staircase without any incident and finish the race. Unfortunately, my final time (1:27) was five seconds slower than my first attempt. Although disappointed, I wasn’t really surprised. Although I climbed more efficiently this time around, my legs were just too tired to compete at 100%.

A couple minutes later, Bob and Ben finished their 2^nd run-up, which was cause for celebration. Both of them smashed their previous attempt by a good 10 seconds! Once again, Bob edged out his son by a single second*.

*Which makes me feel pretty good; It means I have a good 20 years of racing before passing the torch down to the next generation J.

Since we were literally the last racers, all that was left was the official times to be posted. By this time, Fred and Steve had already left*, but we knew that our entire team made the top ten and Bob, Ben, and I enjoyed what was left of the post-race buffet.

*Steve hails from NYC and had to work that afternoon!

When the results were finally posted, we confirmed our times and received the lion’s share of the awards. Steve and I came in first and second overall and Fred, Bob, and Ben all won their age groups. Best of all, we received a beautiful team award plaque, which was extra special. In most other ALA races, we just receive an additional medal. Better yet, Bob and Ben suggested that I get to keep it for the team! To celebrate, I met Bob and Ben back in Albany for bite to eat a few hours after the race*.

*If you are ever in Albany, you just have to try Crisson’s Bakery and L’il Buddha Café down in Lark Street!

Here are my final thoughts:

·        I thoroughly enjoyed Bennington. It was a perfect day for having a race and because the race is pretty small and is close to home, it doesn’t fill up the entire day.

·        The length of the course taxes the anaerobic system much more than the aerobic system. Although I was breathing heavily throughout the race, my legs gave out first. It is definitely suited toward sprinters.

·        In my estimation, the course favors tall climbers who can use the rails effectively. It also favors short but light climbers who don’t have a lot of upper body mass (i.e. climbers who have a much lower arm/leg power ratio).

·        Grade 1^st attempt: Strategy = B-; Exertion = A; Technique = D; Overall = B-;

·        Grade 2^nd attempt: Strategy = B+; Exertion D; Technique = B-; Overall C+;

·        It is amazing how I close I predicted where I’d hit the wall. I also predicted that the rails would be difficult to use and the how challenging the circular stairs would be to ascend. That said, I *still* underestimated these challenges.

·        Although I’m quite disappointed with my results, I’ll definitely come back. I know with a set of fresh legs and improved technique that I’ll be able to break 1:20. It just won’t be as easy as I initially thought!

Bennington Part 1: Race Preview

5/16: Bennington is only a few days away and I’m excited! I expect a smaller group of elite climbers this year compared to the last few years, so I believe the primary “competition” will be against the times from previous years.

The race course is only 61 meters tall and has 435 steps. Since the stair case is continuous and wraps around the inside wall of the Bennington Monument it should have fewer turns than my practice stair case and should pretty fast. On the other hand, I’m seen a video of the 2009 climb and the inner rails don’t look very suitable for climbing.

Knowing this, I’m predicting a time of 1:18. This pace is on par with my normal practice pace, so it should be achievable.

My primary concern is the position of the rails. Although I climb pretty fast without the rails, I’ll be several seconds slower without them. From experience in my practice course, my legs give out sooner when I don’t use the rails*. My other worry is the last 20 or so steps up a narrow spiral staircase. From the video, it looks tricky and I could potentially lose a couple precious seconds.

*On a typical stair workout I’ll go up and down 7 flights a total of 12 times and I alternate between using the outside rails, no rails, and the inside rails. My legs almost never give out when I use the rails, but when I forgo the rails my legs start to give out near the top.  During my 1^st run-up without rails (my 3^rd trial) my legs give out near the 7^th floor. In later run-ups (the 6^th, 9^th, and 12^th trials) my legs give out even sooner; often as soon as I reach the 6^th floor. Going up the last flight of stairs is particularly challenging and although my speed is not severely impacted, I know I wouldn’t be able to maintain the pace for much longer.

Because this is such a short race, my racing strategy will be quite simple. Go just a bit faster than my practice pace for the first 45 seconds. Use the rails as much as possible to delay leg fatigue. Then turn on the after burners if at all possible. Once my legs start to give out, I only have a 10 second window to keep pace before I start to slow down. As long as my legs feel okay at 45 seconds, I should be able to break 1:20 without too much problem.

Here is my pre-race to-do list:

1)      Go to bed by 11:00 PM the night before.

2)      Wake up at 7:30 AM. Have a light breakfast (yogurt, raisin english muffin, + banana)

3)      On the road by 8:00. Eat an apple during the drive. Arrive around 9:00 AM.

4)      Drink my caffeine drink at check-in @ 9:15.

5)      Try to enter the stairwell before the race in order to practice using the rails, both at the bottom and the top of the course.

6)      Warm-up 15 minutes before race time: Burpees & Jacks.

7)      Race at 10:00 AM!

5/18 Update: After re-reviewing some of the videos from 2009, 2010, & 2011, I have a much better idea of the stairwell layout. It appears that I will be able to use the rails effectively, although the inner railing looks to be positioned a bit higher than I’d prefer. Additionally, the grade of the staircase (rise/run) appears to be a bit shallow, meaning there will be a bit of a horizontal element to the race, which puts me at a bit of a disadvantage since I’m not a runner. I admit to being a little bit intimidated by the speed of prior year participants in the videos (Jean-Francois Harvey, Jesse Berg, Tim Van Orden, Justin Stewart, etc.) and I’m having a hard time visualizing how I’m going to match their pace. On the other hand, I know my limits quite well and assuming the height of the observation deck is truly 61 meters, I should be clocking in under 1:20.

I'm still keeping my official race prediction at 1:18... let's do it!

Racing Season Finale: Clash of the Titans

Note: Post written in late March & April 2012... it just took an extra month for me to post :)

Tomorrow is the last race of the regular February/March racing season. I will be travelling to Hartford to climb up the Hartford 21. This race is a bona fide sprint since the building only has 36 floors and the building is only 134 meters tall. This course suits me quite well because I consider myself to be very competitive for races under 150 meters.

A few days ago, I expected this race to be between me and my friend David Tromp for gold. He holds the course record (3:15) and I know he'll be at the race to defend his title*. However, after looking at the starting lineup, it turns out that both Sproule Love and Tim Donahue will be at the race! Now it looks like it will be a fight just to get on the podium.

*Dave and I are planning to carpool to the race together, so he'd better show up :)

All three of these guys have manhandled me in one way or another this season. Sproule whooped me at both Willis & One Penn Plaza; Tim smoked me at 30 Rock; and David of course has beaten each and every time we've met (ESBRU, Albany, & Philly).

With these three racing, my chances of winning are slim and by rights I should be expecting a 4th place finish. But even though the odds are against me, I still have a shot. Sproule, Tim, and Dave have beaten me in longer races, but we haven't faced each other in a true sprint. I'm built for power and my training is centered on short bursts of speed. In my mind, the slate is wiped clean and I should stand on equal footing in this race. So bring it on, I'm not settling for 4th :)

Here are my expectations:

• Expected finish - 3:20 (assuming no fancy hallways or running)
• Goal - 3:15 (course record)

Race Day

Sproule Love won the race pretty handily, but I pulled off an unlikely upset, narrowly edging out both Tim and David for a solid 2nd place. See the race results here.

As you can see the top 4 times were within 20 seconds of each other and 2nd through 4th place was determined by only 6 seconds!

Race day started off like most other race days... lots of nerves and very little sleep. I woke up at 3:00 AM and lay in bed until my alarm clock sounded at 5:00 AM.  Fortunately, I was still well rested having had plenty of sleep in the days leading up to the race. I quickly got ready and I hopped in my car right around 5:25 AM. I headed over to Dave's house and we were on the road to Hartford shortly after 6:00 AM.

Although we had just a handful of days with snow this past winter, it started to snow while we were on the road. Fortunately, it wasn't snowing heavily and although it was slow going, we still had plenty of time to make couple pit stops and roll into Hartford before 8:15 AM.

After checking in, Dave met with his team "The Connecticut Healthcare Stair Runners", led by Ray Schneider who knows Dave through the local stair racing circuit. After a few introductions, I was drafted by the team :)

Next Dave and I went into the stairwell to warm up and do some reconnoitering. Here is what I learned:

• The course starts on the 1st floor (ground floor) and ends on the 35th.
•  Most floors have 20 steps: 11 steps --> Landing --> 9 steps.
• The building skips floor 13, but has an extra floor (labeled PH) between the 34 and 35.
• The steps are between 6.75 and 6.875 inches tall (I always bring a ruler to races).
• The course turns to the left and the railings are close enough to use both sides. The railings are easy to grip and are the made of the thick tubular stock found in most buildings.
• The stairwell continues up to floor 36 and the roof. There are a total of 54 steps from floor 35 (the end of the course) to the roof.
• 100% vertical; no fancy hallways to navigate. The only obstacle was a security gate on the 2nd floor.

I continued my warm-up on the 3rd floor holding area (burpees & jacks) and a few minutes before 9:00 AM our team headed down to the start line.

The hallway was crowded with race volunteers, racers, and the media so it took a few extra minutes to start the race. David summed it up perfectly: "We could have made another bathroom stop before the race!" Once everyone was finally in position, the clock started and David bolted into the stairwell. I followed 20 seconds later.

The race:

I started off quickly, just a bit slower than my regular practice pace*. By the lower teens, I was still going strong, but I did not like how I was climbing. I felt like I was accelerating through the stairs, but losing time changing directions on the landings. No matter how hard I concentrated, I simply couldn't keep one step on the landings. In fact, I often stutter-stepped on the turns, wasting time, energy, and ultimately efficiency.

*My practice pace is usually much faster than race pace since I train in a 7 story building.

By the 25th floor, I was still hanging on but I didn't have the energy willpower to go faster. Instead, I waited until the 30th floor to start my final push. I could hear cheering from the finish line and I knew I had to kick it up a notch. It wasn't much of a push, but I gave it my all by the time I hit floor 34 (two floors to go). Crossing the finish line, I quickly looked at my watch and saw 3:20. I didn't quite reach David's record, but it was still a fast time. I then sat down next to David to see how he fared. He had a solid time of about 3:25. We congratulated each other and then focused on recovering. David busied himself hacking up a lung and I spent my time writhing in pain. My breathing soon turned back to normal, but my arms and legs were burning because of the lactic acid build-up. For comparison, the pain was just as intense as it was in the New Haven and Albany races.

After another 5 -10 minutes, Tim Donahue and Sproule Love finished the race. I went over to greet them and ask how they did. Unfortunately, neither of them brought a watch but Tim claimed that Sproule beat him by a good 20 seconds. At that point, I figured Sproule won the race and I came in 2nd unless Sproule somehow managed to break the 3 minute barrier.

After Sproule, Tim, and David recovered a bit I asked them to make sure we could meet later for a group photo. I was pretty thrilled that three of the top stair climbers in the North East were all in one place!

Sproule and Tim took the elevator downstairs to cheer on the rest of their team, but David and I opted to take the secondary stairwell down*. This gave us a chance to count the number of stairs in the race course. I called out each step and David confirmed my count at the end of each landing. Unsurprisingly, the published number of steps (686) is different than actual count (700).

*All skyscrapers are required to have more than one set of stairs for safety purposes. In 

Hartford 21, the secondary stairwell is basically the same configuration as the racecourse, but turns to the right rather than the left.

After counting the steps, David and I headed back to the 3rd floor lounge to socialize with the other climbers*. At long last I was able to snap a few photos of Sproule, Tim, and David.

*Special note goes to Reese, a raw Vegan who recognized my WCL shirt. He is one of Tim Van Orden's many followers.

East Coast Champions!

After the photos session, I snagged a few Larabars and a banana for the trip home and then headed over to the Black Bear Saloon for the post-race party. The party lasted a bit longer than expected because of the record number of climbers and we were there until about 2:00 PM. Fortunately, I had a good time socializing with my new team mates and the Black Bear provided a buffet for both breakfast AND lunch! I also had an opportunity to hang out with Sproule and Tim's older brother Bill (a fast climber in his own right).

Team Donahue!

Partying with the Connecticut Health Care Stair Runners

And the Winner is... Spoule Love!

Here are my final thoughts about the race:

• Climbing technique is vastly different in a sprint climb compared to a longer climb. I can easily keep one foot on landings when going at a slow pace, but it becomes exponentially more difficult the faster I climb. This makes a bit of sense because my legs are moving much faster during a sprint. I'm also going so fast, my body is overcoming significantly more centripetal force when turning around the stairwell. As a reference point, I climbed each stair case in less than 6 seconds (3 seconds per landing) at this climb. However at the Willis tower I climbed each floor in about 10 seconds (5 seconds per landing). I've got to learn how to take turns more efficiently (or at least more quickly) during a sprint.
• Grades: Strategy = A; Exertion = A-; Technique = B-; Overall = A-;
• Based on my measurements, the real height of the course is between 120 and 125 meters.
• The race organizers should have kept about 10 or 15 seconds between each climber rather than 20. That would have sped up the race while keeping the stairwell traffic at a reasonable level.
• I'm happy that I was able to keep up with the likes of Dave Tromp and Tim Donahue at this race. Although Sproule set the new course record, he was only 4% faster than me. For comparison, at One Penn Plaza Sproule was 12% faster and at Willis he was 22% faster! Although I'm a bit better than I was a few months ago, this race shows that I'm no longer the underdog when it comes to sprinting. I can't wait for Bennington in May which is an even shorter race!
• I had a lot of fun hanging out with David over the last few races. I'm hoping he'll be able to tackle the Willis Tower later this year. 

Philly in 6 Minutes

Note - This race happened back on 24MAR2012. It just took a while to post :)

Pre Race Analysis:

On Friday evening I will be heading to Pennsylvania to participate in the Fight for Air climb in Philadelphia at 3 Logan Square (formerly the Bell Atlantic Tower). At 50 flights (in a 53 story building) this race is about two and a half minutes longer than my comfort zone.  The course is about 205 meters tall, it is caught right in the no man's land between a sprint climb and a tall tower climb. Compared to similar races I've done, it is taller than the Corning Tower (170 m)* but shorter than One Penn Plaza (213 m)*.

*Estimated racing elevation, not building height.

Frankly, I'm more nervous than I should be. I'm not expected to win the race since tall buildings are not my forte and David Tromp will be racing.  However, I should be able to get a podium spot assuming the feild is similar to last year's. Really, the only person I'm racing against is myself, and I'm afraid of underachieving to my own standard.

Race Predictions:

My own predictions (based on faulty building data) show that I should complete the race in about 6 minutes. From experience, I know I typically race a bit slower in taller buildings. Therefore this indicates my time will be closer to 6:15.

Looking at the lineup from last year, the main competition was:

• David Tromp (friend and fellow racer). Time from 2011 =  5:45. I've raced against David before and he is faster than I am in tall buildings. Based on our latest match up in Albany, I could theoretically keep the gap to within 15 seconds, but 30 seems somewhat more achievable.
• Dan Speirs (a noted racer from PA). Time from 2011 = 6:31. I've never raced against Dan, but I've seen his name on another race (Philly WAWA, 2011) where he placed 2nd. Allthough I have limited information, I think I would be able to match his pace.
• Steven Marsalese (friend and fellow racer). Time from 2011 = 6:48. Since this building is shorter than One Penn Plaza, I have the edge in this race. A gap of 10 - 20 seconds wouldn't seem unreasonable in this match up.

Combining all four predictions, I'm expecting to finish the race between 6:15 and 6:30 and my official goal will be to finish in 6:15 or less. I would expect this time would be good enough for 2nd or 3rd place. Lets just hope I don't get Sprouled* again.

*Sprouled (V). To compete in a race and get humbled by unknown or last minute participant.

Racing Strategy:

My assumptions about the course are as follows:  205 meters of climbing with 1088 steps, each about 7.5 inch tall. I assume the race will end on the 55th floor (which holds a banquet hall). Since the race covers 50 flights of stairs, I assume the race will start on the 5th floor and the halfway point will be on the 30th floor.

1) Leave before 6:00 AM in order to  get to the race before 8 AM (I have nearly a 2 hour drive). Breakfast in car: Yogurt, Apple, & raisin english muffin

2) Take caffeine at 7:00 AM.

3) Arrive at the race and check in. Confirm the height of the stairs. Take a ruler just in case. Set my metronome to 108 bpm for 7.5 inch steps or 101 bpm for 8 inch steps. Possibly get into the stairwell for a look. Time will be tight.

4) Warm Up Routine starting at 8:10 at the latest. Burpees & Jacks as usual.

5) Get toward the front of the line. Start 2nd behind David if possible.

6) Check my time on floor 30. My goal time at this point will be 3:10. Adjust speed as necessary.  I should be very winded at this point, but my legs should still have power.

7) Kick it up a notch on floor 40, if possible. less than 2 minutes to climb.

8) Accelerate on floor 50. Push to the breaking point by floor 53 and maintain till the end. Collapse on the floor!

Race Day:

Honestly, I had a bit of negative energy* in the days leading up to the race. However, I tried to stay positive and everything turned out fine. In fact, things turned out much better than I had expected by far! Check out the race results here.

*negative thoughts, stress, anxiety, etc. which I feel are detrimental to my performance both physically and mentally.

The couple days leading up to the race didn't bode well. I emailed the race organizers to see if they offered any discounts for the registration fee. Since all the other American Lung Association events I've attended (New Haven, Stanford, Hartford, & NYC) and even the MS climb at 30 Rock have all offered discounts when asked. The bottom line was that this climb didn't offer any discounts and the organizers had never even heard of such a discount program. I felt the organizers became a bit defensive when I explained that other ALA climbs offered discounts and showed them the features of their very own website that enabled registration discounts.

The day before the race was another disappointment. Not only wasn't I registered with my team (Brianna's Boys - aka the Tower Masters) but I was placed in the 3rd elite wave. Not a good omen.

Although I was already frustrated with this race, I was determined to stay positive and not to let it impact my performance. Fortunately, my friends came to the rescue. I spent Thursday evening playing games at my friend's house and I had such a good time I simply forgot about racing. The night before the race was also therapeutic since I slept over at my parents' place and was able to spend some quality time with my family.

Fun for the whole family!

The day of the race, I woke up at 5:15 AM to get ready. We were out the door well before 6:00 AM and we reached Philly before 8:00 AM. We easily found 3 Logan Square and soon enough I ran into Warren, my friend & team captain. He has done the race several times and assured me that even though I was scheduled to start almost last, I should be able to get to the front of the pack without any trouble. He then showed me the actual stair case. I took out my ruler and measured a sampling of the steps on the first few floors. I then took the elevator to the observation deck to measure the stairs near the top*. It turns out the steps are pretty shallow with a height of only 6.75 inches. Special thanks to my friends Michael & Jim who warned me via email that the steps were relatively shallow.

*One of the few instances where I've actually taken an elevator going up in recent memory.

I began my warm up in earnest (Burpees & Jacks) and when they called the first wave of elites to get ready, I was already waiting outside*. When it was time to line up, I moved into the 9th spot with my friend Steve starting right behind. Since this heat was "reserved" for the double climbers, I figured I should let some of the other competitive double climbers go first, but at the same time the 9th spot would ensure that I wouldn't have to pass too many people.

*Full disclosure: I totally ignored the National Anthem during my warm up. Since I was already outside when they began singing, I didn't even notice the anthem until they were partway through. Fortunately I was so close to the sidewalk, so few people noticed my rudeness.

Right before the start of the race, I set my metronome at 117 beats per minute. I had initially planned on 106 or 108 bpm, but since the stairs were about 10% shorter than I expected, I increased my bpm by about the same amount (110% of 106 ~ 117).

In the Stairwell:

With a cheer, David was off and climbing. The organizers let the climbers into the stairwell once every 10 - 15 seconds and soon enough I was climbing too. Right from the beginning, I knew the pace was brutal. I could barely keep up to the metronome, especially around the landings. My friend Steve was slowly catching up, but by the time I hit the 10th floor I could no longer hear him climbing. I knew I couldn't maintain this pace for another 5 minutes, so I simply ignored my metronome.

The stairwell itself was uniform and the only irregular feature of the staircase was a long hallway on the 2nd floor which took about 4 seconds to traverse. One difficult aspect of the climb was traversing the turns.  Since I was climbing at such a high rate, I had trouble maneuvering around them so quickly. Adding to the difficultly, was the fact that all but the first floor turned to my weaker left side. Fortunately, the rails  were easy to grip, being made of thick tubular piping and they were spaced close enough apart to use both at once.  As an added bonus, the air conditioning was turned on and the blowers blew air with such force that they actually helped push climbers up the staircase!

One by one I passed the other climbers ahead of me. Although I was climbing behind the beat of my metronome, I was still going at a pretty fast rate and I was hurting by the time I was halfway through the race. The biggest problem I face was that I couldn't see the floor numbers and I had to ask the race volunteers where I was. I glanced at my watch somewhere in the lower 20s and since I was still below the 3 minute mark, I know I was more or less on pace.

I struggled during the 2nd half of the race and I quickly went into survival mode. This was the most challenging part of the race because my body was hurting and the top still seemed like a long way off. Although I could keep up the pace in the short term I was having serious doubts about keeping up the pace for another 3 minutes or so. I'm sure I slowed down in the upper 20s or lower 30s, but at least I could still keep up to my metronome in the middle of each flight. By floor 35 my left arm was hurting so bad that I switched from using only the inside rail to using both rails at once. I was in a pretty poor mental state. Sometime around the 40th floor I started to come to my senses. I was almost finished the race and I knew I had enough energy to finish. This was my make or break floor and I told myself to go for it. I was angry I let my pace slip for the last 15 floors and I increased my pace a bit. A couple floors later I readied myself for the final sprint and went faster with each flight.  With three floors to go I could hear the cheering from the top and I climbed as fast as my legs and arms would allow. I ran across the timing mat and glanced at my watch. I had finished the race in under 6:03 (6:01 official), shattering my goal time of 6:15!

Catching my Breath

At the top, I still had enough energy to walk around, although my legs and arms were burning since they were full of lactic acid. All in all, I had a solid race, although I certainly could have pushed myself a bit faster in the last half of the race. For comparison, my effort level was somewhere between the Corning Tower and One Penn Plaza races.

Mark, Steve, & Alex at the Top

I walked over to my family for a quick celebration and then went over to David who had already finished the race and was recovering. He had a blistering time of 5:53 (5:49 official)! Next came Steve who clocked in at 6:34, a huge improvement (14 seconds) over last year.

About 10 minutes later, the Century climbers (i.e. those signed up to do two climbs) were asked to head back downstairs. Although I wasn't doing the multi-climb I head downstairs to give the course another try just for fun. I did the climb in about 8:00 minutes and it felt great. For once I could actually relax, offer encouragement to other climbers, and enjoy climbing a tall staircase!

I was planning to climb the "Rocky Steps" (see upper left)
but from this vantage they look kinda wimpy!

After the race, we headed down to the Tir na Nog bar to eat a few appetizers, get our event T-shirts, and attend the award ceremony. All in all, our team did great. "Brianna's Boys" easily won the team event. David swept both the single and multi climb events. Steve, Mark, and I all won our age groups and Jim came in 2nd in his age group.

Brianna's Boys Capture Gold!

Final thoughts:

• In my mind, I felt like I climbed a 6:20 race, not a 6:01 since I definitely climbed slower than my metronome's 117 bpm pace.
• Next year I need to verify the height of the steps at the Albany Corning Tower. I don't understand how I was able to keep up in Albany (112 bpm with 7.5 inch steps) but wasn't able to keep up in Philly (117 bpm with 6.75 inch steps). I can only guess that the steps in the Corning Tower are actually a little bit shorter than 7.5 inches? Although the organizers verified the height of the Corning Tower's steps, I didn't actually measure them myself.
• Was the race shorter than my 205 meter estimate? The race started on the ground floor and ended on the 50th floor. The elevator indicated there were only 51 floors total. This information doesn't line up with the building data I found on Wikipedia & Emporis. Next time I will have to climb to the top of the staircase and check things out.
• Grades: Strategy = B+; Exertion = B; Technique = B+; Overall = B+
• I officially tweaked my piriformis nerve in the days leading up to the race. I need to be very careful about training. I will need to curtail dead lifts and leg presses until I'm back to 100%.
• The race organizers did a better job then I expected. The timing was accurate, they allowed friends & family in the observation deck, they allowed a preview of the course, and they didn't make a fuss when I started with the 1st wave of climbers.